The Grammys Honored Prince with a Royal Tribute

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It’s been almost a year, but it’s still hard to believe that Prince is no longer with us. And although he had a career that spanned nearly 40 years and many, many albums, he will always be chiefly remembered as the rock icon behind Purple Rain. The album sold 15 million copies, spawned four top ten hits, and won an Oscar, Golden Globe and a Grammy Award in 1985. In addition to Prince’s own songs from the soundtrack, Morris Day and the Time’s two songs from the movie — which Prince wrote and produced — were also iconic hits. Everything Purple Rain touched turned to gold.

At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards this year, Morris Day and the Time reunited to sing their two hits songs from the film Purple Rain, “Jungle Love” and “The Bird.” And the group didn’t miss a beat either, stepping on to the Grammy stage like they just walked off of performing at Minneapolis’ First Avenue nightclub 33 years ago. Morris Day’s wingman Jerome even brought out the mirror for Morris to admire himself in, just like in the movie. It was pure nostalgic joy, and a decent reminder of the sheer amount of hits Prince produced for other artists besides himself.

After the Time performed, Bruno Mars came out in full Purple Rain era Prince-drag, right on down to the hairdo, the sparkly purple jacket, and the ruffles. He performed Prince’s mega-hit “Let’s Go Crazy”, strapped with an electric guitar, and he did an amazing job honoring the Purple One as best he could with an incredibly funky performance. You can watch the entire Prince Grammy tribute video down below:

On Sunday, the great majority of Prince’s musical catalog returned to most streaming services after over 18 months as a Tidal exclusive. In addition, this past week Prince’s estate announced an agreement with Universal Music to release his music recorded after 1995 alongside music from his vault, including outtakes, demos and live recordings. Warner Brothers has also announced a remastered edition of Purple Rain is coming on June 9, featuring outtakes and live concert footage as well. All of this is great news, reminding fans that although “His Royal Badness” might be gone, his music will live on forever.

What did you think of the tribute to Prince at this year’s Grammy Awards? Do you feel it did proper justice to the Purple One? Let us know what your thoughts are down below in the comments.